The World Never Ends

Chapter 2

Move, duck, dash right, sprint, jump, slide. An ever repeating pattern, one I’ve had memorized now for almost three hours now. It’s been about two weeks since we offloaded the train. We got rooms, our roommates, of our choosing, and the tests began. I decided to room with Nikol, and I was fairly surprised when they allowed it. It started when we first woke up, our roommate vanished, our job to find them. I set an almost record time, as did Nikol, and maybe two other recruits. Three were sent home for giving up, and the rest made it in regulation time or more. 

    Move, duck, dash right, sprint, jump, slide. I had been stuck on this test now for about three hours, and Nikol managed to pass me up. I had to catch up. I had to repeat that sequence three times, then I had to dash to the platform. The only catch was it was a shooting simulation. If you get shot, complete reset. Your next turn was within the next eight hours. Fail the test again, and the cycle repeats. I failed the test once, and I’m not looking forward to doing it again. 

    Move, duck, dash right, sprint, jump, slide. The only things I need to do. My turn next. I got this.

    They loaded me in the simulation, and I chose my weapons. AR, sidearm, and a combat knife. Typical, yes, but it gets the job done. 

    The mission briefing: get to the the safehouse, eliminate all opposition, hold point.

I crossed the start line, move.

I came up to the first obstacle, enemy behind the barrier. I ducked behind the barrier, and pulled my knife to eliminate the target.

Target one, eliminated. At this point, the announcer was just getting a bit annoying. I dashed to my right, and avoided incoming shots, and on my first run, I figured it was best to run and gun this part. I ran past enemies, four in total, and hip fired them all. The announcer came on, Targets two, three, four, and five, eliminated.

I jumped at the end of the sprint, over the trapdoor at the top of the hill, and I landed in a slide. I repeated the pattern again, to find ultimate success, however with every cycle, the more precise the enemies were, and the more alert they become. By the third cycle, everything was drawn out and lagging due to exhaustion and having to be careful. My knife on the enemy almost failed, I almost dropped my knife, and my run and gun was very tiring. 

I slide down the slide at the end, and I jumped up to run to the platform. I made it, finally, I thought to myself. The simulation ended, and I was finally allowed back to my dorm. 

-     - 

   

    I walked in my dorm to see Nikol laying in bed already. “What time is it?” I asked.

    “9:06. Took you long enough,” she snorted with a hint of sarcastic humor.

    “Oh, hush it,” I scoffed back, smiling. “Missed you.”

    “Haha, sure,” she winked my way.

    I smiled and hopped in bed. Given we are roommates, we not only share the same room, but the same bed as well. It was nothing sexual; it was either that or I slept on the floor. I’d prefer to sleep in a soft bed rather than the hard floor.

    “Good night, Nikol.”

    “Good night, Rite.”